Jan 5, 2012

Bolognese sauce, a slow cooked ragú made with lean ground beef, pancetta, onions, carrots, celery, tomatoes, wine, and cream is one of my favorite Italian sauces. I make this sauce whenever I need to feed a large crowd, or just to keep in my freezer. Serve this over pasta with a big Italian salad and everyone is happy!

Because Bolognese sauce needs to cook slow and low for several hours, the crock pot is ideal for this. You can make this with ground turkey, buffalo, veal, or whatever meat you prefer. I always make it with beef, using the leanest ground beef I can find.

Since purchasing my new crock pot a few months ago after reading so many reviews (which I love by the way, it's the Hamilton Beach Set 'n Forget 6 Quart Programmable Slow Cooker), it's been parked on my counter to ensure that I use it at least once a week. I've been taking some of my existing stove top recipes and trying them out in the crock pot which usually require some minor tweaks to make them work. Because liquids don't evaporate as much in the crock pot, this recipe is slightly different than my stove top version.

By the way, first time trying out Reynold's slow cooker liners, talk about an easy clean-up!

This sauce starts out on the stove, which is essential to brown the meat then slowly simmers in the crock pot for the rest of the day. You can start this the night before if you want this for a weeknight meal, then turn it on in the morning and go to work. When you get home, all you will need to do is boil some pasta, or roast some spaghetti squash, perhaps make a salad and you have a delicious meal! (Over a 2 oz dry/1 cup cooked serving of pasta, it's a 9 points plus meal.)

Any chance this could be made in a pressure cooker? The top to our crock pot broke, and we recently got a pressure cooker. I'm trying to translate all of my old crock pot recipes to pressure cooker now.

This looks great!!! Can't wait to try it as soon as I get a new larger crock pot :). Got some gift cards for Christmas that will go towards that. Question about your new one - with the insert for testing/keeping track of meat temps, does that stay in the crock pot all the time? Even when not cooking meats? If you take it out at all, is there any problems because of the little hole in the lid? I can't wrap my head around a hole in the lid :) if not using the thermometer probe!!

This recipe is almost identical to the bolognese sauce I'm making on the stovetop tonight. Since it's a little late in the day, I'll have to make it in crockpot next time. I always try to simmer this on the stove for at least 1 hour, but my husband can never wait that long. By cooking it in the crockpot it'll get the chance to simmer like it should! This is the very best bolognese recipe I have every tried. Husband and kids LOVE it! Next time it's going in the crockpot per your recipe! Thanks, Gina!

Any recipe for the crock pot can be made in the pressure cooker, not sure on the time.

Christine, I know, at first I was confused about the hole. You only leave the probe in when you cook meat, otherwise you take it out and nothing covers it. I thought that was weird but using the crock pot for several months now, it's never been an issue.

Lisa, I know what you mean!! Which is what's nice about the crock pot.

Thanks Gina!! Like I mentioned I still haven't bought a new larger one but REALLY need to. I was looking at a 7-quart Calphalon but it's pricey....not sure I want to spend that kind of money!! Maybe I will go with this one instead.

Looks like a great recipe but I don't like bacon :( Have you tried the recipe without it? Any recommendations on what I can change on the recipe to have similar taste? (I'm not a good cook so I need help!) Thanks!

Perfect timing Gina! I bought everything to make your stove top recipe but was going to wait until the weekend when I had enough time for it to simmer. Into the crockpot it goes tomorrow for a delicious dinner tomorrow. p.s. been spreading the word about your blog and posting your address everywhere!

Do you know if the Reynolds liners leak toxins into the food since the plastic endures quite a bit of heat? Are they BPA free?

If you're ever in the market for another slow cooker, I am in LOVE with my Hamilton Beach Stovetop Slow Cooker from Target. Its not stoneware but a premium diecast aluminum pot that you can use to cook on the stovetop (electric or gas) and then transfer directly to the Slow Cooker base.

Because I have had Lap-Band surgery, I don't do pasta well. I do make Bolognese sauce, and put it, hot, into small ramekins, top with herbed biscuit dough, and bake. It's kind of like a pot pie! Thanks for a great site!

Hey Gina,I love your pasta bolognese sauce and have had a lot of great results with it. I had a question though, I noticed that this is essentially the same recipe but this one calls for two pounds of meat instead of one. Is there any reason you added another pound because of the crock pot?

Wow, I just found your blog last week, and it's like you literally read my mind. I went to a holiday party two weeks ago with the most amazing lasagna bolognese from a stellar caterer. Haven't been able to stop thinking about it since, to the point where I'd been searching for various bolognese recipes that I could lighten up somehow and include in a lasagna recipe.

Independently of that, I found your blog and started perusing (and making!) the awesome recipes. Then today, BAM! Those two things collided! How exciting! Totally meant to be! :)

Anyhow, thanks for your awesome blog, and ESPECIALLY thanks for posting the previous Weight Watcher points values alongside the points plus points. I've long since lost the weight, so I don't want or need to learn the new ww points plus system, but still count my points to keep trim! This is invaluable - I know there are many people like me! :)

I just got to Germany a few months ago and had Bolognese. They have it in packets here just add water and meat. We tried a jar pasta sauce that we ate in the states and it was horrible after Bolognese. lol. I def want to try this because went i get back to the states Im not eating the jar stuff :)

Hi Gina,Have made your stove top recipe several times and we love it so thanks for the crock pot version. I know you don't use FF half and half due to the additives etc. but thought you might like to know I found an all natural fat free version at Walmart of all places. It is their Great Value brand and the ingredients are listed as Milk, fat free milk, Vitamin A and Vitamin D 3! No after taste and no chemicals and it is 1PP per 1/3 cup! I use it daily in my coffee too and it works great and tastes creamy! Thanks for your great recipes!!

Anonymous, I was waiting for someone to ask me! I had a bigger package of meat and since nothing really evaporates in the crock, this worked out perfectly.

Yes, lot's of people still use the old points so I won't stop posting them.

Cassandra, no jar sauce for me either, yuck!

Leigh, yes I think it would work. The reason I don't use fat free half and half is because it really bothers my stomach (no idea why). I find fat free h&h curdles sometimes when added to hot food so you'll have to see how it works.

WHERE have I been that I completely miss out on slow cooker bags?! I bet you could make an amazing Vodka sauce in the slow cooker too. I've never made bolognese sauce but yours looks really yummy. I bet you could steam some red and orange veggies and then puree them and add them to the sauce for extra umph

Thanks Gina for trying our Reynolds Slow cooker bags. I helped to develop the slow cooker bag five years ago for Reynolds. The material that is used in the production of the slow cooker bags is not made of plastic and is made of a nylon material. We have been selling oven cooking bags for the last fifty years and is a safe product if used as directed and makes wondeful juicy meat products and with the slow cooker bags makes ease of clean up awesome.@kelegirl6- This product has no BPA in it and we have been selling the oven bags for fifty years which is a twin to the slow cooker bag. My wife and I use them weekly because of busy lives, the slow cooker along with Ginas recipes makes life for us so much simpler. I can't wait to try this one in our slow cooker using the Slow Cooker Bags. Again Gina your site is wonderful,and I look forward each day for your new recipes. Thanks

love the new recipe Gina. Can't wait to try this. Thank you also for Ziplist. i was printing out your recipes. forgetting my list. Go back home get list and go back. Now it's all here. I'm loving it. Excited when I go shopping later on and try this sauce.

Gina, could you give some suggestions for pastas that would hold up well under the weight of this?

I live in a small rural town in the middle of nowhere, so my pasta options are somewhat limited to brands like Barilla and their most common styles. I just have a feeling this would be too overwhelming on something as thin as spaghetti noodles.

I'm making this right now in the crockpot and I can't stop tasting it. It's so good! I'm really debating not putting the half and half in at all, because it's just so darn good as it is.

What I love about your recipes, is that I never have to be perfect or careful. If I don't have an ingredient, I can just sub something and it still tastes great. You make it so easy. For this one, I didn't have celery, so I used mushrooms. I didn't have 2 cans of crushed tomatoes (just 1), so I pureed a couple of fresh and threw in a can of tomato sauce.

I'm going to serve this tonight over whole grain penne. Then, I'm going to use the leftovers on a batch of stuffed shells.

I love 99% of your stuff but was disappointed after reading this recipe. Your introduction made it sound as though this would be close to a TRUE Bolognese, but the use of ground beef and excessive tomato product translates to just another Americanized spaghetti sauce. I'll stick with Lynne Rosetto Kasper ragu recipes from The Splendid Table cookbook to get the true ragu experience. Thanks for the effort though, and glad to see others are enjoying it.

Just finished eating this for dinner!!! Oh Goodness!! Very good. I only made 1/2 a batch because we are just 2. It did make 10 servings (5 cups), and I froze the other 8 for when we have company. It's that good!

I'm on Weight Watchers and I am loving your recipes! So glad I found your site. This recipe looks amazing.

However, I must give a word of warning on the slow cooker bags. I ruined TWO different slow cookers, a Rival Crock-Pot and a Hamilton Beach programmable, by using the bags. Both of their ceramic liners developed a huge crack on the inside, all the way across the pot. It wasn't big enough to cause leakage, but it was also only a matter of time. I thought perhaps that I had accidentally broken the first while washing, but when it happened to the second ceramic liner within about 10 uses of the bag, I called Hamilton Beach and they told me that the liners were not recommended for use with their slow cookers for that very reason. So, sadly, I returned to scrubbing my slow cooker after each use.

Just put this in the slow cooker:) I actually instead of 2 lbs of beef I used 1 lbs and a turkey kielbasa it looks amazing!♥ I also made your asian drumsticks lastnight OMG if anyone is reading this try them they are AMAZING! Thanks Gina

Thanks so much for this recipe, I got a crock pot for Christmas and this will be the first recipe I try. I've featured your recipe on my list of healthy and 'easy' crock pot recipes: http://www.skinnyscoop.com/list/larissa/favorite-hearty-soups-stews-and-crock-pot-recipes

I was surprised that there was no garlic in this recipe so I added some and I was a little disapointed at how the sauce doesn't stick to the pasta a little better. I will have to better review when I am not sick and have some taste buds, but tonight it was a little bland. I wonder if I used red wine instead if the flavor would have been a little richer.

Hello Gina! Tried this recipe today and it was awesome! My boyfriend who although, always willing to try my new recipes but rarely raves about any did so on this! I used turkey instead of beef. My only issue was that it was a little watery after 6 hrs so I am wondering if A) I should turn up the heat or B)cook it longer? The cans of tomatoes that I had were 14.5 each which could have been the culprit even though it was only 2 oz more than what you used?

I made the sauce this weekend and thought it was good. I added fresh basil at the end which was my only deviation. Enjoyed using pancetta which I got at the Publix meat counter. They just cut me off 4 oz. Thought it was a satisfying 8 pt entree. I am greatful for you and your site.

Giana, why did you use 2 lbs of meat in the crock pot version? I was going to do the pot version and only purchased 1 pound of meat also because I wanted to cut the recipe in 1/2. Will it still come out right in the crockpot if I use 1 pound? The rest of the ingredients appear the same.

how come people can't stick with the golden rule? If you don't have something nice to say... don't say anything at all. amazing job as always, your blog has been a huge help in my weightloss journey... 60lbs and counting... Thank you!

Beeje, wish you would comment after you made it. Of course, I can't use all the fatty meats a bolognese would normally use. It's a healthier version.

Alexandra, glad he liked it, perhaps the brand of tomatoes could be more watery, but yes, turning up the heat or leaving it longer (or both) would work.

To mince the vegetables use a knife, chopper or food processor.

Tybody, I answered this above, since the liquid doesn't evaporate, I used more.

This sauce doesn't call for garlic, basil, oregano but if those are flavors you like in your sauce, go for it. There are no rules in cooking, do what works for you. If you like garlic, add it, if you love basil, go for it!

made this last night for supper. yummy. although mine did cook for almost 12hrs it was still perfect. i have to make 2 batches in my house and use veggie crumbles for my daughter. i did her's on the stovetop and she too loved it cooked it about 1 hr.

Just got all the ingredients into my crockpot and can't wait to sneak a taste later this evening. I'm putting together some meals for my family since I'll be out of town, and want healthy meals my family can eat.

Love this website Gina! Thank you for what you do - my family enjoys all the recipes I make from this site!

This was SO delicious. I live in The Netherlands and lean ground meat is hard to come by so I made it with half beef, half pork and it turned out so flavorful (I did have to do a fair bit of grease draining though! :) It may not have turned out as low-fat as I would have liked, but it was awesome. Thanks Gina!

I AM SOOOOOOOOOOOO excited to try this! My husband has been yelling at me that i waste so much money on buying jarred sauce...and now I found your recipe and I can JUST MAKE MY OWN! I can't wait! THANKS. :)

I made this wonderful sauce this weekend and we just loved it! It was so much better than just "fixing" up sauce from a jar. This is going to be a favorite in my house. I love that it is freezable too. Thanks, Gina, for all your great recipes. I have one week left to make Lifetime in WW, and you helped me do it!!

I'm a bit late to the game, but I just made this today with 96% lean ground beef, which was all they had at my supermarket, and it dropped the P+ down to just 3! And it was delicious! Thank you so much for all of the great recipes--I have about 20 cookbooks but I find myself coming here for inspiration first!

Once again, another recipe to add to my regular meals! You rock! This was so delicious and so easy to make! I used turkey bacon instead on pancetta and ground turkey instead of ground beef..turned out amazing!!

Hey Gina, I couldn't have screwed up this recipe more, only had one pound beef so threw in one pound turkey, only had diced tomatoes so threw in a THIRD can of crushed after it cooked for 6 hours and a run to the store. I also blitzed it with my immersion blender to "hide" the veggies from my picky son. He ate THREE bowls, which is truly amazing because he is really hard to get protein into. Not only did it turn out amazing, but after all my unintentional tweaks a half a cup came to 2 pts!!

I am making it again right now this time I made sure to have all the right ingredients on hand.

Thanks for another wonderful recipe Gina! Have you ever tried milk instead of the half n half? I use 1 pound italian sausage and 1 cup whole milk, and it has that lovely velvety texture once its simmered. Love the crockpot idea! Can't believe I've never done it before...

Made this last night, I'll review with my few changes (just had to sub!) used peppered bacon vs pancetta, flat leaf parsley (a little more peppery flavor), and fat free 1/2 and 1/2, and omitted the wine because I didn't have any. It was a good way to hide few extra veggies - my kids didn't notice. Served it with rigatoni (ridges caught the sauce). Hope this helps someone!

If I wanted to put this on HIGH instead of LOW, how long would I cook it? Put it in the crockpot at 4:00 and don't want to wait until 10:00 to eat. Will it have the same flavor on HIGH for a shorter cook time?

12 years ago as a newlywed, I was fumbling around the kitchen in an effort to make spaghetti for dinner. I added a dash of mustard powder to give it a little kick and it forever became known as "mustard spaghetti" and the night we had to order pizza. I have been in retirement from spaghetti making and my husband takes over when we have it. Yesterday, I threw this together in the crock pot for dinner and unfortunately, I think I am out of retirement from my spaghetti making. Oh well, we still have taco retirement but that is another cooking disaster story. Thanks for the great recipe!!

hi gina, recipe is great, thank you! question, i measured out 15 portions not 20...did you use a liquid measuring cup or a dry measuring cup to measure out the 20 portions? i used a liquid...let me know, please! thanks!

This recipe is awesome! Made it today and had friends over to try it and everyone loved it and couldn't believe it was made in a crockpot. The only substitution I made was using Evaporated Milk instead of half and half. I will never buy spaghetti sauce in a jar again. This is definitely a recipe that I will make again and again and always have some in my freezer! Thanks Gina!

Loved this recipe! I added mixed herbs, dried parsley and cinnamon to it and it really worked! I got the idea from an amazing lasagne I had from an Italian restaurant that I am sure had cinnamon in it. Sounds weird, but SERIOUSLY try it! Would this recipe work with red wine as well?

I have been searching for a bolognese sauce for YEARS and this is now my base recipe! I do make some MINOR adjustments and it is still amazing! I use a non stick pan so I don't include the butter/oil (I find the pancetta provides some oil for the onion/carrots/celery) I also exclude the cream and use a good quality chicken stock instead of wine. I also add a tablespoon of tomato paste to give it a little more richness. Really, really tasty thanks! I have lost 17 pounds since following your recipes :)

This was amazing. I did add a small squash and 3 garlic cloves into the food processor with the carrots and celery Kids and hubby didn't even know there are vegetables in the sauce. Which is great because they refuse to eat anything that even looks like a vegetable. What they do not know will do their bodies good. Keep up the great work.

I feel I must issue a warning for this recipe....it is extremely DANGEROUS to make this if you are pregnant and hungry because you will burn the crap out of your tongue stealing bites!! It is SO GOOD I can't stop eating it straight out of the crock pot!!!! Add to that, I made a fresh loaf of nice thick bread and it's just begging to be dunked in the sauce! My sweet little fetus is demanding I send more down...what's a mom to do? ;)

I made this yesterday for my family who is rather picky and it was definitely a hit! I left out the half and half and I used half ground beef and half ground turkey. Thank you for sharing. I will be making this again!

I have cooked alot of sauces and this recipe is the best red sauce I have ever tasted or made! I used "San Marzano" crushed tomatoes and center cut bacon. Cooked exactly as recipe called for but added fresh minced garlic.

CREAM!?YIKES! A real authentic Bolognese sauce does not include cream. Omit the cream, butter and use lean ground veal instead of beef for a leaner more authentic sauce. Save the cream for Alredo's and rose sauces.

I don't have time for the crock pot, so I made it in the dutch oven and put it in the oven for a few hours. My house smells divine! My son asked if we could have something for dinner besides TURKEY, since I've been making every type of meal with turkey or chicken lately. So, Beef Bolognese it is and yes, I will add the cream for just tad bit of richness to the finished product.

I made this yesterday and it is so delicious; thanks for yet another great recipe! I do have a question about the points and PLEASE forgive me if someone already asked, or if I am missing something in the recipes. Why is the point total for the crock pot version higher than the stove top one?

this is the best red sauce I've ever made... I make it with ground veal (my fiancee hunts) and all of the flavours really cut down on the gamey-ness of wild meat. Definitely a must-try if you come from a hunting family. (buffalo and moose meat works well too)

I made this this week for an easy, yet delicious weeknight meal that would last me several meals. I highly suggest prepping the night before because I came home and prepped this on my lunch hour and it took a little longer than I had expected. However, the recipe was a hit! Everyone loved it. I used red wine instead of white, and used 1/2 cup instead of 1/4, added a few cloves of garlic, and it was oh so good. Thank you for all of your help in the kitchen Gina! My friends and family all love the things I make from here. Keep up the good work :)

I've been a "lurker" for about a year, and have enjoyed every recipe I've tried. This one is so good, though, that I have to comment on it. I followed the recipe exactly, and served it over ziti. My husband, friends and I absolutely loved it ... and the two of us enjoyed the leftovers. Love this site, and hope you can keep it up forever!

I've always made a traditional bolognese sauce. Full of fat. I made this for dinner the other night expecting it to be good but not quite as good as my traditional recipe. Nothing could be further from the truth. Turns out I like bolognese better when it's low fat! Plus this is so much easier to make. Thank you so much for this recipe. It is delicious! My husband, 9 year old and two toddlers love it as well!

Just took my first taste out of the crock pot and it is AMAZING!! I prepped everything last night and threw it all in the crock pot this morning before I went to class. I made a few changes just because I didn't have everything I needed on hand. Instead of 2 lbs. of ground beef, I used 1 lb of ground beef and 1 lb of mild Italian sausage. Then I was a can short and instead of 2 - 28 oz cans of crushed tomatoes I used 3 - 15 oz cans of crushed tomatoes, a 15 oz can of tomato sauce, and about 2 tbsp. of Italian style tomato paste to compensate for the difference in thickness. Also used red wine instead of white wine and threw in some garlic as well. Can't wait to pour it over pasta for dinner tonight, thanks for the great recipe!!

Obsessed with this recipe! Prepared the recipe Sunday night and put it in the slow cooker Monday morning! I absolutely loved it. VERY tasty. I paired it with polenta made in the rice cooker as a pasta alternative. I am also planning on using some of the left overs as a slow cooked baked potato topping! Froze the rest and will use it for pasta in the next few weeks! Very happy with this recipe! Thank you!

My husband and I, after some serious medical conditions, are determined to enter summer as healthier individuals. Somehow I stumbled upon your fascinating and exciting site and began compiling a recipe box.

We enjoyed our first SkinnyTaste meal, Crock Pot Bolognese Sauce, earlier this week and it was fabulous. I made it exactly as written and it was excellent. Generally I avoid reviewing recipes and purchases but you. Gina, and your site are too marvelous to ignore; I am eager to continue incorporating more SkinnyTaste recipes into our improving lifestyle and health.

this is really fantastic!! I added an extra stalk of celery and 8 oz of mushrooms. also, I kept in on low in the crock pot for about 8 hours instead of 6 because I was away from the house. finally - I added a whole cup of half and half and it didn't change the points! great!

Made this last night for dinner tonight, was able to split the portions and freeze half for another time. It is yummy, my daughter was cleaning out the crockpot with a piece of bread, telling me I needed to share the recipe with her.

Making this right now! I also put a tin of your zucchini tots in the oven a few mins ago. love your site! I work long hours and then go workout, so to keep me from stopping for fast food or going out to restaurants, I love checking out your healthy/delish/simple meals! Thank you. I can't wait to eat this (with zucchini noodles) tomorrow!

Goodness people...if you think the only way to "season" is with a teaspoon of basil and oregano, you're missing the boat. When you brown onions, carrots and celery...it imparts a richness and flavor to your sauce! The same thing goes with browning the meat. I've made this sauce and it rocks! If anything, add some fresh chopped garlic. It's a keeper Gina. You are so gracious to your critics, and a treasure to those of us searching for proven-to-be-delicious recipes!

Hey, Gina! I know I'm late to the party on this recipe, but I have a question. I'm thinking of making this for a crowd of 15-20 people, including some "healthy" men. Do you suggest I double and make in two crockpots?

I realize this is an older recipe but I made it for the first time last night to rave reviews. I altered it a bit; using half ground beef and half ground turkey but otherwise everything was the same. I served it with Parmesan cheese and a chiffonade of fresh basil over rigatoni. A perfect husband friendly meal.

I looked and looked for the right recipe. Can always count on finding it on your site. My husband doesn't like tomatoey sauce but loves meat. I made it just as you instructed. He's in the other side of the house and has said how good it smells. I can't wait until 6:30 when we get to try the finished product. It was fun making and I can't wait to eat it. I'm sure there will be a toast to the dish. Thank you for your great ideas and God Bless!